THE overwhelming majority of people in Britain would not be willing to work fewer hours in return for lower pay, according to a survey today.

THE overwhelming majority of people in Britain would not be willing to work fewer hours in return for lower pay, according to a survey today.

Only 22% of people said they were prepared to work fewer hours for less money - with 78% saying they were not, according to a Populus poll for The Times.

Either people could not afford to earn less, they enjoyed their job so much that they did not want to cut back or they were not prepared to give up spending money on things they liked, the survey said.

Marginally more professionals and managers - 27% - said they would be prepared to earn less in return for more free time, while just 19% of unskilled manual labourers said they would.

Divide

There was also a regional divide, with 32% of people in the North willing to cut back on their working hours compared with just 19% in the South East and 17% in the Midlands.

Of those prepared to accept fewer hours, 60% of men and 56% of women wanted to spend more time with their families.

Of those who did not want to change their work pattern, 52% said they could not afford it, 29% said they found their job rewarding and 14% did not want to cut back on the things they enjoyed.